to include us in their private moments.”
Kaye hasn’t advised clients for or
against marriage, but he does sometimes set clients up on dates. “We
have a very good database and we
take note of people who are interested in meeting someone,” he says.
Collier, meanwhile, has covered the
other end of the relationship cycle,
acting as a mediator for clients going
through a divorce.

Sometimes family issues aren’tprimarily about the client. “We had aclient whose uncle’s girlfriends werestealing from the uncle, who didn’trealize it at first because he was sucha packrat,” Kaye says. He helped thenephew sort out what was missing,called the authorities and brought in ament in Melbourne, Fla., offers clientsaccess to his “magic Rolodex,” which isfilled with contacts at reputable busi-nesses of all kinds, he says. Tax attor-neys, divorce attorneys and CPAs getthe same access, as well as the abilityto use Thompson as a resource. “Theyknow they can come to us and get anyinformation they need on investments,securities, insurance and anything elsethey don’t feel entirely comfortablewith,” Thompson says. “It’s a touchpoint, either via email or by snail mailwith an included note.”

PRICING CONCIERGE SERVICES
Many planners wrap the cost of concierge services into a comprehensive
wealth management fee. “We’re a fee-

CALCULATING THE PA YOFF

Advisors say that concierge services
help them solidify existing relationships, compete with large institutional wealth managers and attract
new clients. “I think it makes the clients we’re helping very happy, and
our business grows on client referrals.
It makes them think of us at appropriate times,” Altfest says.

Those clients are getting attention they wouldn’t get from a large
institutional wealth manager, Altfest adds. “It’s just not possible
when you’re running 400 accounts
to know the names of each of your
clients and their children and where
they’ve vacationed. Being in a very
personalized business, it’s an easier

Some planners offer all their clients concierge services; others help only topclients with special projects.

gerontologist and social services case
worker to assess the uncle’s needs.

FINANCIAL CONNECTIONS

Some planners will do nearly anything
for a client. Others won’t. “Clients often
ask if we’ll pay their bills, and we say
we don’t do that. We don’t want to get
involved and that’s not how we spend
our day,” Altfest says.

Instead, many planners treat client
needs that the planner can’t or won’t
handle as an opportunity to strengthen
a relationship with another financial
services provider. Collier’s firm, for
instance, used to handle some bill-paying for clients who had their own
businesses. “We’ve recently given a
lot of that to a local CPA,” Collier says.
The referral helps the clients, and also
makes it more likely that the CPA will
refer business to Collier’s firm.

Mark Thompson, senior vice president at Thompson Wealth Manage-

only practice and we consider this partof their fee,” Collier says. “When you’rewilling and able to do things for clients,word gets around.”Other planners might offer inclu-sive services, but only to top clients.“Really, it’s the upper 20% of the cli-entele who get most of the services,”Thompson says. “We price it into thefee and we’re organized about provid-ing it. You really have to be organized.”For the other 80% of clients, Thomp-son says, he doesn’t advertise con-cierge services or discuss them as partof the on-boarding process.

At Kaye’s practice, clients who
generate revenue of $19,000 or more
get 30 hours a year of the firm’s professional time, which they can use
however they like; concierge services
fit into that time. After those 30 hours
are used up, Kaye bills time at between
$60 to $300 an hour, depending on
the staff involved.

transition to hearing about their
lives,” she says.

Concierge services are “definitely
a differentiator,” Thompson agrees.
They’re a particularly good way to
demonstrate a firm’s quality to existing
clients’ children and grandchildren, he
says, who will likely remember when
a planner went out of the way to help
a relative.

It’s also just plain satisfying to
help clients improve their lives, Kaye
says: “There are other ways to help
people achieve their goals, other than
retirement income planning and risk
management. There’s also smile
management.” FP

Ingrid Case, a Minneapolis financial
writer, is a former editor at Bloomberg News. She is the author of Your
Own Two Feet (and How to Stand on
Them): Surviving and Thriving After
Graduation.